Vox Magazine

V O X M A G A Z I N E / / 1 1 . 1 9 . 1 5 / / F R E E E V E RY T H U R S D AY

MIZZOU:

It’s time to talk Putting Columbia’s race conversation in perspective

Understanding the mental health crisis on college campuses

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This week

Online

NOVEMBER 19, 2015 VOLUME 17 ISSUE 45 | PUBLISHED BY THE COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN

A LASTING IMPACT Co-founder of MU4MikeBrown, Naomi Daugherty, talks about the organization that began Concerned Student 1950.

Feature Under-supported and under pressure, a generation struggles to cope. Millennials are facing more mental illness diagnoses than ever before, even as they become less stigmatized. PAGE 8 RACE AT MU Racial tension brought MU into the spotlight, but there is more to the story than the national news. Personal experiences, other campuses, allies and family make this more than a black-and-white issue. PAGE 5

STREAM OR SKIP

Putting Columbia’s race conversation in perspective

Understanding the mental health crisis on college campuses

PAGE 5

PAGE 8

No road trip is complete without music. Sing along with these songs during your long (or short) drive home for Thanksgiving.

We’re social.

CAN’T GET ENOUGH VOX? DOWNLOAD THE IPAD APP FROM THE EDITOR

This is na-cho typical chip. Seoul Taco adds originality and spice with a side of kimchi to this late-night guilty pleasure. PAGE 16

BOOKS

MUSIC David Bromberg graces the stage once again with his mastery of instruments and folksy sound. PAGE 17

Q&A The environment needs heroes now more than ever.

Activist Carolyn Amparan works to make Missouri greener. PAGE 19

ELIZA SMITH

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

At times, social media can be an exhausting space. I find it even more alienating and inhospitable in the midst of debates and crises that bring out extreme differences of opinion, including the protests at MU last week and the tragedies — an insufficient term, but such is our limited language — in Paris, Beirut, Syria and across the globe.

When I expressed my frustrations with the misinformation and lack of empathy plastered all over the Internet and my social media feeds, my sister recommended that I turn it off for a while, a suggestion I ignored. But this compulsion to sift through the muck was all my own. I do not envy the job of our digital managing editor, Abby Holman, whose many tasks include keeping the discourse civil. Our online commenting policy forbids personal attacks, profanity and attacks on race, creed or religion — the sort of thing that has been in full supply of late.

This is not to say that social media breeds only hostility. In recent months, I’ve seen more young adults reach out online to share stories of their struggles with anxiety and depression. The matter of mental health on college campuses — how people are experiencing, discussing and managing it — is a conversation finally taking place, and this week, Vox looks beyond the bright veneer of millennials and into the darkness that sometimes lies in wait (Page 8).

Returning to my promise from last week, you will also find perspectives from the MU protests in a small package of stories starting on Page 5. I am indebted to our contributing writers for reaching out and sharing these voices, which I hope will inform our community as we move forward.

VOX STAFF Editor: Eliza Smith Deputy Editor: Bryan Bumgardner Managing Editor: Haley Pitto Creative Director: Tracee Tibbitts Digital Managing Editor: Abby Holman Art Directors: Ben Kothe, Madison Alcedo Photo Editor: Alex Menz iPad Art Director: Morgan Purdy VoxTalk Editor: Ciera Velarde Multimedia Editor: Haley Reed iPad Assistant Art Director: Megan Bedford Calendar Editor: Carson Kohler News & Insight Editors: Sarah Dettmer, Adrienne Donica, Kendyl Kearly The Scene Editors: Veronica DeStefano, Abby Kass, Casey Nighbor Music Editors: Scott Germanetti, Rebecca McGee, Sara Trimble Arts & Books Editors: Christine Jackson, Hannah Pederson Contributing Writers: Paul Albani-Burgio, Madison Feller, Niki Kottmann, Bayli Martin, Patrick McKenna, Cassa Niedringhaus, Molly Olmstead, Annie Rees, Dan Roe Editorial Director: Heather Lamb Executive Editor: Jennifer Rowe Reporting Beat Leader & Digital Director: Sara Shipley Hiles Writing Coach: John Fennell Office Manager: Kim Townlain

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PHOTOS BY JILLIAN VONDY/MISSOURIAN, JOHN HAPPEL/MISSOURIAN

Read between the panels. The lives of Stan Lee and Neil Gaiman get page time in memoirs published this month. PAGE 17

Photo taken on Wednesday, Nov. 11. Campus was unusually quiet following threats against students the previous night.

MIZZOU:

It’s time to talk

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Bring on the binge-listening. Columbia podcasters join the latest resurgence of podcasts. PAGE 4

COVER DESIGN: SITE MA COVER PHOTO: AMBER GARRETT

V O X M A G A Z I N E / / 1 1 . 1 9 . 1 5 / / F R E E E V E RY T H U R S D AY

Some TV pilots are great, others, not so much. One blogger watched Amazon’s new fall line up and determined what’s worth an entire series.

NEWS & INSIGHT

THE SCENE

320 LEE HILLS HALL COLUMBIA MO 65211 573-884-6432 VOX@MISSOURI.EDU ADVERTISING: 573-882-5714

Radar

Vox’s take on the talk of the week

FACES OF CHANGE

“We will progress, we will become even better, and we will become known as a desirable school offering rich educational experiences.”

The UM System Board of Curators and Gov. Jay Nixon appointed new leaders within the University system.

Each of them shared thoughts about the future of the system and Mizzou.

“We need to ensure that what we are doing institutionally, structurally and systemically accommodates the needs of our students.”

Hank Foley, interim MU chancellor

Mike Middleton, interim UM System president

“I believe in a strong state university system ... where students, faculty, researchers alike believe that they’re getting the best possible education and experience.”

Yvonne Sparks, curator representing District 1

THY HIGH FAME SHALL LAST

PHOTOS BY OR COURTESY OF OFFICE OF THE MISSOURI GOVERNOR; T.J. THOMSON/MISSOURIAN; TAZ LOMBARDO/MISSOURIAN; MATT CLOUD; ASSOCIATED PRESS; SPIEGEL & GRAU; RANDOM HOUSE; GRAYWOLF PRESS; GROVE PRESS

That’s one big visor to fill:

DO THE RIGHT THING

LAND OF THE FREE?

What percentage of Americans can say their ancestors didn’t immigrate to this country? As the debate about allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. continues, let’s remember that very few Americans can claim their ancestors were always here.

Native Americans and Alaska Natives 2 percent

Coach Gary Pinkel has been with the Tigers for 15 seasons, but now he’s saying goodbye. Pinkel is stepping away due to his diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma to tend to his health and spend time with family. GP, don’t forget to head over to the Rock M on Saturday to grab your commemorative rock.

“It’s easier to be the president of the United States as a black person than to be the head of a studio.”

—SPIKE LEE

Everyone else 98 percent According to the 2015 U.S. Census

READING LIST

Ever wonder why more people of color don’t get recognition in the film industry? So does Spike Lee. The legendary director challenged Hollywood to add more diversity to the industry during his speech at the Academy Governors Awards last weekend. Minorities make up 10 percent of the film industry, according to a 2014 report by the Writers Guild of America, compared to two percent of U.S. presidents — but we see his point.

Looking for a new perspective? Read one of these nonfiction titles to get some context on race in America: Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)

The Warmth of Other Suns

by Isabel Wilkerson (2010)

Notes from No Man’s Land

by Eula Biss (2009)

Black Skin, White Masks

by Frantz Fanon (2008)

Written as a letter from a father to his son, this book explores the reality of being black in America.

This historical account of the Great Migration intertwines the narratives of three people migrating out of the South.

This collection of essays explores issues such as white privilege and living as a white woman in black spaces.

The author presents a scientific analysis of the feelings of dependency and inadequacy experienced by black citizens in a white world.

Written by: Adrienne Donica, Sarah Dettmer, Rebecca McGee, Casey Nighbor 11.19.15 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM

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NEWS & INSIGHT

Lend them your ear

Five Columbia podcasts command the sound waves

BY LAUREN PUCKETT

PHOTOS BY JOHN HAPPEL AND ELLISE VERHEYEN

Within the past few years, podcasts have ventured outside relative obscurity. Now parents listen to TED Radio Hour on their commute to work, and students stream Serial while sorting their laundry.

New York Magazine dubbed the recent boom in both listeners and new shows as “the great podcast renaissance.” Cheaper and more accessible technology has eased the creation process, while Apple’s Podcasts

app has helped audiences connect to these shows, Andrew Leland says. The Columbia resident hosts The Organist, a weekly arts and culture podcast. Creating a podcast requires only a basic microphone, editing software and something to say.

“Eight years ago if you wanted to listen to a podcast, you had to be a nerd,” he says. “You had to figure out RSS feeds and how to download them.”

The platform invites listeners to experience stories differently than TV and print media. “When there’s a visual aspect to the story, our attention gets divided,” Leland says. “There’s value in just hearing MORE ONLINE it.” Listen in on how Visit VoxMagazine.com for five local podcasts got the tech you need to get in the podcast game. their starts.

Mitch Hill

Mike Mayer

Emily Holtzman

Amanda Rainey

Rachel Wise

Meredith Ludwig

THE FIFTH DOWN

DR. MIKE MAYER

WEIRD GIRLS’ GUIDE

HOME SLICE

THE COMPOST PILE

Mitch Hill and his friends Bennett Hughes and Andrew Beasley “have been brainwashed to really like Mizzou athletics,” Hill says jokingly. They started a sports podcast in September. Hill and Hughes co-host the show, and Beasley produces it.

Their lively banter covers the latest news from MU athletic teams. The hosts have taken a cue from Tinder and close out each episode by “swiping right” on their favorite players of the week.

Psychologist Mike Mayer started a weekly segment on KFRU/1400 AM after listeners expressed interest in the pilot episode. Since 2011, he has turned this psychological wisdom into a podcast. In each episode he poses a question, such as “Why are people so lonely?,” and then hammers out a solution. “I feel there’s so much about psychological issues that people don’t know about, and I wanted to reach as many people as I could,” Mayer says.

Weird Girls’ Guide started as a KCOU/88.1 FM radio program co-anchored by Emily Holtzman, Ciara O’Shea and Alicia Tan. When the trio separated after graduation, they wanted to find a way to keep the show going. In June they started using Google Hangouts to discuss topics such as postgraduate life and Internet identities. “The way we talk things out, we come to better conclusions than we would if (the show) was done individually,” Holtzman says.

Amanda Rainey and Rachel Wise could talk about pizza for hours — and they do with this pizzathemed podcast they started in September. The duo discusses how pizza plays a role in people’s lives and relationships and incorporate interviews and music. “There’s a lot of humanity behind this, and pizza is the jumping-off point,” Wise says. In future episodes, they plan to talk about the “Random Acts of Pizza” Reddit page and a 40-year pizza love saga.

With a background in theater, Meredith Ludwig has always loved listening to and telling stories. When she got tired of memorizing lines, she tried performing radio theater instead. Her podcast, which began in 2003, is a collection of personal stories.

“Everything goes into a compost pile, and once it sits for a while, you can put it back into your garden,” Ludwig says. “That’s how I look at these stories. Once I digest them, they go back out to the world.”

Hosts: Mitch Hill and Bennett Hughes If you like: The Herd with Colin Cowherd Listen: mitchelljhill.com/ audio

Host: Mike Mayer If you like: The Psychology Podcast Listen: mikemayer.com/ category/podcasts

Hosts: Emily Holtzman, Ciara O’Shea and Alicia Tan If you like: Call Your Girlfriend Listen: weirdgirlsguide. tumblr.com

Hosts: Amanda Rainey and Rachel Wise If you like: Reply All Listen: facebook.com/ homeslicepodcast

Host: Meredith Ludwig If you like: The Moth Podcast Listen: kopn.org/drupal/ archive

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CHANGE ON CAMPUS MU is not alone in confronting collegiate racism

BY SOPHIA CONFORTI PHOTO BY JUSTIN L. STEWART

T

O SAY MU IS THE FIRST COLLEGE to tread in the turbulent waters of systemic racism is inaccurate.

The list of universities affected by racism is as long as the history of higher education itself.

Following recent protests about race on campus, questions come to the forefront about how a university can change its racial discourse. If other universities that have dealt with racial tensions are any indication, what progress will look like for MU is not entirely clear.

In New York at Colgate University, which has an almost 70 percent white student body compared to the 77 percent at MU, racist posts on social media sites, as well as frustrations in funding disparities for student cultural groups, led to a 101-hour peaceful sit-in at the school’s administration building in September 2014.

The protest brought in hundreds of the school’s nearly 3,000 students, who held signs that read “I 2 Am Colgate” and “Can you hear us now?” Students, such as sophomore Tasnim Ali, slept in a sleeping bag for almost a week. During the sit-in, students gave personal testimonies of racial discrimination and harassment on campus.

Organized by the Association of Critical Collegians, the sit-in – tasnim ali focused on the group’s 21-point plan aimed at creating a more inclusive campus. The proposal included objectives such as required diversity courses for all faculty and staff, restructuring recruiting programs to address varying ethnic backgrounds and the inclusion of multicultural fraternities and sororities.

A back-and-forth between members of the ACC and Colgate administrators resulted in Colgate For All, a modification of the group’s initial 21 points.

But more than a year later, the success of Colgate For All is up for interpretation.

Suzy Nelson, the Vice President and

PEOPLE ARE MORE AWARE ... BUT OVERALL THE CAMPUS CLIMATE IS THE SAME.

Dean of the College at Colgate, says: “Have we fully achieved everything we would hope we can achieve? No. It’s a beginning. We’re in a position to do the work that needs to get done.”

But for students like Ali, who is black, issues of race on campus haven’t changed. “People are more aware of microaggressions and seeing problematic things, but overall the campus climate is pretty much the same,” she says.

Dayna Campbell, a member of the ACC and a participant in the sit-in, says despite the plans of action, racial incidents are still happening on campus. “It’s kind of crazy to me how (Colgate For All) became this living document that was advertised a lot through the administration. Now a lot of students don’t know what the sit-in is, who it was about, who was there.”

Another member of the ACC, Rachel Drucker, who is white, says many feel Colgate For All has “co-opted the narrative of students.” Campbell, who is black, agrees: “Putting it on a website is not going to effect change. Actually sitting down and figuring out where the points came from would be the best way.”

Last February, black students at the University of California at Berkeley gave 10 demands calling for Chancellor Nick Dirks to provide more resources to black students. The demands included hiring two black psychologists to help those dealing with racial discrimination, hiring mentors for black students and athletes and sustaining funding for cultural service learning.

Despite two previous student meetings, Dirks responded to the demands by letter four days after the statement’s requested deadline of March 6. “Too many students have told us about being excluded ... and feeling, in a general sense, vulnerable, isolated and invisible,” he wrote. “This is something we deplore.”

On Sept. 3, almost six months later, Dirks announced the UC Berkeley African American Initiative. The Initiative aims to boost support for black students and increase faculty diversity, as well as a $20 million scholarship fund for African Americans.

To date, many of the issues raised by students on these campuses remain unsolved or works in progress. As MU tries to learn from its own racial history, it marches forward — though, as these universities illustrate, where it is marching remains unclear.

TOUGH CONVERSATIONS Talking about race with kids is a necessary challenge

BY ANNIE REES

R

ACE, IN GENERAL, IS NOT SOMETHING that Rebecca McCorkle or her partner try to think about every day. They don’t want to define their sons solely by their races but also don’t want to shy away from the topic. The complexities of the campus climate are difficult to voice to their young sons, ages 8 and 7.

McCorkle and her partner, who are white, are the mothers to two boys, who are black. When the couple began the process of adoption, they knew they wanted to adopt siblings.

A little more than a year later, in 2010, they met their sons, then 3 and 2, through the Department of Social Services.

The past year has made conversations about race more immediate and more necessary, McCorkle says. The shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014 became the catalyst for months of protests and unrest in Ferguson and across the country about race and profiling. The racially motivated massacre in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston happened only two hours from where the family once lived in South Carolina.

“I think what I’m forced to understand more is that there are particular groups in America that don’t ever get to take a break from prejudice,” McCorkle says. “What I realized after having kids is that I could (be an ally) at my convenience. If I didn’t feel like fighting a fight, I didn’t have to. But what I realized by having a multi-racial family is that, you know, that’s privilege.”

McCorkle, a lesbian, says she possesses privilege in that she does not have to divulge that information if she doesn’t want to.

“But when I’m with my black child, he doesn’t get to take that off. I think that is what has become the most eye-opening ... but I only understand a small percentage of that,” she says.

The mothers must grapple with what kind of education they should provide at home. They try to teach their sons with positive achievements of African-American historical figures. The issue also becomes tricky in a formal education setting, where the boys are just learning about the concept of slavery.

Candace Robison, who has been an elementary school teacher in Columbia Public Schools for 12 years, says she made sure conversations of race were age-appropriate when she taught the second grade. “I probably never even said the word ‘race,’” she says. Instead, she tried to focus on the unique qualities of a diverse classroom. She once had students draw self-portraits but told them not to leave the paper white because, “No one is piece-of-paper white.”

McCorkle jokes that when her family moved to Columbia from South Carolina, it seemed to them like a utopia, the sheen of which has been punctured by the events of the past few weeks. The hate expressed on social media scares her, especially as her sons grow older.

“Racial profiling terrifies me; I feel pretty confident that as long as I’m with my children, they’re OK,” she says. “As they get older, I know they’re not always going to be with their white moms. And I think about black children who have black moms, and I know they don’t get treated the same ways that my children get treated. And that, again, is another example of privilege.”

THERE ARE PARTICULAR GROUPS IN AMERICA THAT DON’T EVER GET TO TAKE A BREAK FROM PREJUDICE. – rebecca mccorkle

ALLYSHIP IN ACTION

Students of all backgrounds join alongside the Concerned Student 1950 movement BY LAUREN RUTHERFORD

BEING AN ALLY FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE HAS BEEN a force as long as social strife and struggle. White bodies marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, straight supporters stood for gay rights just last year, and allies walk alongside those confronting oppression now.

The Concerned Student 1950 movement is no exception. Although allies won’t ever fully understand what it means to be a student of color on the MU campus, many stand alongside Concerned Student 1950 in support. But they don’t stand in the spotlight; they offer support from the wings and allow the marginalized group to hold the megaphone.

Student ally Colette Rector, 22, sees involvement from others with the movement but also apathy. After realizing doing nothing made her apathetic as well, she decided to start educating herself on the issue, something she considers the root of allyship.

The term means learning about the issue, taking the time to listen to the stories of others and reflecting on how privilege affects your own life. Action — such as engaging in conversations with others, protesting

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and praying — stems from learning and pondering.

“An ally is something you grow to be,” Rector says.

“It’s a verb.”

For Rector, allyship meant visiting with the students at the Concerned Student 1950 campsite on Nov. 7. It was a space she says she felt invited and accepted into as an ally.

Student ally Kate Obermeier, 22, had a similar experience; she camped out at Carnahan Quad for two nights. Obermeier joined the Concerned Student 1950 movement after its first night of camping but previously showed support with the Student Coalition for Critical Action.

“I have the privilege of calling MU my home and feeling valued and welcomed here,” she says. “If I’m in the position to help others feel valued here, why not?”

She says it was a powerful experience to walk alongside Concerned Student 1950, hear the activists’ stories and see their passion for fighting for values they shouldn’t have to be fighting for.

“Sometimes I don’t know how to be an ally,” Obermeier says. “I can’t fix things, and it’s hard to

know what being an ally looks like in a constantly changing situation.”

As an ally, Rector says she has become more conscious of just listening and not sharing any of her own personal experiences or how the movement relates to her life. The activism isn’t about her, so she asks herself, “Is it more powerful to listen or to speak right now?”

“If you can learn what oppression looks like, it isn’t hard to empathize,” Rector says. “Even if you don’t agree, you can see there’s a problem.”

For Obermeier, taking her privilege into account and learning more about the oppression faced by marginalized students has made her want to help students feel valued and that they have voice. To aid in this process, the Mizzou Multicultural Center will host a series of discussions this week on what it means to be an ally, what solidarity looks like and how to best support others.

“I’m not only privileged because I’m white and part of the majority,” Obermeier says, “but because I can use my position to advocate for the minority.”

BEYOND WORDS Race-related terms aren’t always easy to decipher

BY MOLLY OLMSTEAD LANGUAGE IS KEY IN DISCUSSIONS AROUND RACE. In an attempt to clear up some of the terms used in discussions surrounding race, Vox turned to MU professors Cristina Mislán and Earnest Perry. They teach Cross-Cultural Journalism, a class that deals with media coverage regarding race, gender, class, sexuality, physical and mental ability and more.

Is there really such a thing as race?

In a way, no. “We have to realize they’re social constructions,” Mislán says. “Race doesn’t exist, but it does have consequences.”

What do people mean when they talk about systemic racism?

Systemic racism, which people often lump with terms such as institutional and structural racism, generally refers to racism that’s embedded in the world around us. “We have an everyday experience with racism due to the society we live in,” Mislán says. On a larger scale, systemic racism can be found in policies that reflect hiring practices, where studies show job applications with traditionally black names are less likely to receive responses. At MU, she says, systemic racism exists in students not feeling safe on campus or being some of the only students of their race in a large lecture hall. Perry notes that conversations about systemic racism raise the question of whether universities like MU put enough resources into recruiting students, faculty and staff of color.

How does racist speech fit into the picture?

Language does not exist in a vacuum. “We can’t divorce language from action or language from intention,” Mislán says. When people use the n-word as a racial slur, for example, they are using a term that carries a long history of violence with it.

This history is what makes it so threatening. “That language puts you on guard for violence to happen,” Mislán says. “Words aren’t just words.”

What do people mean when they talk about privilege?

Privilege, as a concept, means having an advantage just because of who you are.

Think of those advantages as categories that make life easier in some invisible way.

Are you white? Middle-class? Male? Straight? These are all examples of privilege, which clear the way for an easier, more comfortable life. You don’t choose them, and you can’t be blamed for them, but they do play a role, Perry says. “Everyone has some privilege,” he says, “but everyone is denied privileges, too.”

So white privilege is the advantage of being white in the U.S.?

Generally, yes. In many ways, Mislán says, white privilege is about not having to think about race and how it shapes your life. That’s not to say being white means your life is automatically easier. But being white in America does come with what activist Peggy McIntosh termed an “invisible knapsack” in a 1987 essay. “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious,” she writes. Some of these “assets” McIntosh references include things such as trusting she will not be asked to speak on behalf of her entire race or followed while shopping.

What does acknowledging white privilege mean?

The concept of white privilege isn’t about making white people feel bad. “It’s kind of acknowledging what these systems are like and that you’re being impacted differently,” Mislán says. “It’s about knowing you can’t understand what the other person’s experience feels like and having empathy. It’s about listening and understanding the system works in certain ways that benefit white individuals.”

BUILDING BRIDGES

An MU student reflects on her experiences with race

BY ANDREA JACKSON I MOVED TO COLUMBIA FROM ATLANTA, a city where people from different backgrounds, cultures, races and ethnicities are aware of one another. That is to say we not only know our neighbors, but we reach out to them. There is a sense of community that makes our differences an asset, not a liability. We look at one another as opportunities for hands-on multicultural training.

I remember being invited to my friend Sylvia’s house where the lesson of the day was how to AnDrea Jackson make tamales. I was sitting at her kitchen table, my workspace. The small square surface was covered with lace and a white towel, and my hands were white and sticky from playing in the Maseca, a brand of corn flour commonly used to make traditional Hispanic dishes.

My friend Sylvia is from Honduras, and she doesn’t speak much English.

I speak a little Spanish but not enough to hold a full conversation. Usually her 6-year-old daughter is the designated translator, but she wasn’t there that day. So Sylvia and I fumbled our way through the cooking lesson by using a little bit of language and a whole lot of gestures. It was the most challenging conversation I’ve ever had, but it was also the most fun. Somewhere between the spoonfuls of masa harina, the boiled chicken and the water-soaked cornhusks, two cultures came together in respect and understanding. We recognized our personal limitations and made accommodations so that we wouldn’t miss out on the moment.

That’s something I don’t often see on the MU campus. There are so many people hailing from different towns, this country and that country, but only a small portion of people engage with others outside of their own race or ethnicity. There seems to be a sense of indifference that permeates the campus, and it surprises me. Instead of joining in and discovering something new, people seem to walk past the unfamiliar. I’m not sure why that is. It could be fear. It simply could be a lack of care. Whatever the reason, this lack of cross-communication started to have an effect on me.

Transferring to MU from a Georgia community college in 2012 was a culture shock. I don’t know what I expected, but I never imagined I’d be living in a white town governed by white culture. In an effort to be more comfortable in my new surroundings, I sought out the black community in the – andrea jackson city and on campus. It was great to be in spaces where I could relate to the music, the jargon and the jokes. But one day toward the beginning of this semester, I realized that in my effort to self-preserve, I hadn’t exposed myself to different cultures. My friend groups consisted of one race: black. I began to long for those differences that helped inform my worldviews and told me point-blank that it’s not always about me, my culture or my traditions.

Nowadays, I am intentional about introducing myself to people whose culture is different from mine, and I purposely start conversations. All it takes is courage. I move past my discomfort, say a simple hello and let the conversation happen naturally. In my opinion, living in a world where our differences become lines of division — instead of bridges — will never do.

THERE SEEMS TO BE A SENSE OF INDIFFERENCE THAT PERMEATES THE CAMPUS, AND IT SURPRISES ME.

11.19.15 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM

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MU student Megan Armstrong stays resilient in the fight against mental illness by sharing her story. Photo by ALEX MENZ

Generation

A

EDGE

ON

In an era of heightened expectations, millennials are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression Story by Laura Heck 8

VOXMAGAZINE.COM | 11.19.15

S

he remembers the date: Aug. 22, 2013.

That’s the day MU journalism student Megan Armstrong, then a sophomore, attempted to take her life. It was a Thursday, and her roommate wasn’t home. She felt excited as she prepared to carry out the task.

But then something stopped her. Armstrong says her vision went cloudy. She remembered how much death scared her. She saw the faces of the people she loves and the things she still wanted to do. “I had an anxiety attack during my suicide attempt,” she says, laughing at the irony.

Waking up the next day was hard because she had to face what she almost did. She hadn’t planned to tell anyone, but her cousin, who also deals with mental illness, must have realized something was off when they talked that day. He called her parents and told them they needed to get to her — now.

After driving to Columbia, Armstrong’s parents found her on a bench near Cold Stone Creamery on Elm Street. She looked dazed. She doesn’t remember much of that day. What she does remember is going home with her parents and having to tell them what she did — what she had almost done.

Being with her friends and family was the most traumatizing part for Armstrong. “When you’re in that place in your mind, that stuff crowds up everything you actually care about,” she says. “But then they’re right in front of you, and you can’t ignore them.”

She counts herself lucky, she says, because her family helped her find the support she needed. Armstrong has regularly been to therapy since she was a sophomore in high school. When she went to college, she continued to talk to a therapist in Kansas City over the phone, but following her suicide attempt, she and her family found a therapist in Columbia she is comfortable with. Today, she quotes what her therapist says in conversation, making jokes about their close relationship. She’s doing better now. She’s on track to graduate.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HEATHER PARRIE

A Growing Crisis

Armstrong is one of more than 5 million college students struggling with mental health, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the country’s largest grassroots mental health organization. Rates of anxiety and depression in particular have skyrocketed in what many are calling a crisis of mental health on college campuses.

Like Armstrong, more students than ever come to college on medication or in treatment for mental health problems, according to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2015. More than 25 percent of college students have a diagnosable mental illness and have been treated in the past year, according to NAMI. At MU, 61 percent of 1,010 college students who responded to an American College Health Association assessment in fall 2014 reported feeling overwhelming anxiety within the last year. And 35.5 percent said they “felt so depressed that it was difficult to function.”

Mental health problems don’t just start in college.

According to Psychology Today, “the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.”

In an October 2014 article in The Atlantic, high school nurses describe daily encounters with students suffering from anxiety. Amber Lutz, a counselor at Kirkwood High School in St. Louis, says students are experiencing high performance expectations as

More students than ever come to college on medication or in treatment for mental health problems, according to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. the competition rises for sports, school and future Christy Hutton, assistant director for outreach and universities. Students show up to the nurse not for prevention at the MU Counseling Center. At the same skinned knees or a spare tampon, but for panic attacks. time, students who are expected to go to college by Dr. Sharon Sevier, former chair of the board of either their family or society feel pressure to be more the American School Counselor Association and a successful than perhaps ever before. counselor at Lafayette High School in St. Louis, says The effects of these pressures are becoming increased levels of testing also contribute to the stress more drastic. Suicide is the second leading killer of and pressure of the students she sees. college students — a rate that has tripled since 1950, In a blog for Psychology Today in 2010, according to the ACHA. Dan Jones, past president developmental psychologist Peter Gray says the public of the Association for University and College school system has turned away from a philosophy of Counseling Center Directors, has noted an increase teaching for competence and now teaches students that in self-harm behavior, including suicide ideation or it is more important to get good grades than be allowed cutting. Professionals say the young people they see to truly explore what interests them. It’s a system, he have trouble expressing feelings and dealing with says, that “is almost designed to produce anxiety and discomfort or negative emotions. “Millennials don’t feel depression.” comfortable struggling,” Jones says. “They don’t have The millennial generation, which includes ages 18 the resilience of previous generations.” He attributes to 34, has a reputation of being whiny, self-important this to a lack of problem-solving skills due to parents and coddled, constantly patted on the head and continually removing all obstacles for their children. rewarded by parents and teachers for the smallest College age millennials were taught they were triumphs. They were raised to be unique compared to others. And in the competitive, to achieve, to collect case of mental health, it seems to ring accomplishments and awards the true. way other generations might have collected GI Joes or pet rocks. Many Duck Syndrome members of this generation have Heather Parrie, an MU junior come to see themselves as above sociology major who just ran for average. They work hard, and many Missouri Students Association vice believe they deserve rewards for president, holds several student their effort. leadership positions on campus. She But for all of their preparation, looks like the quintessential co-ed: millennials could be the first ombré blond hair, thin frame, a nogeneration to make less money nonsense baseball hat paired with an than their parents, according to oversized T-shirt, a phone that dings the latest numbers from the U.S. with emails and a planner filled with Census Bureau. When they enter meetings. She’s the type of college college, millennials, raised to be student whose accomplishments successful fish in high school ponds, parents brag about to their friends on find themselves competing with Facebook and in holiday cards. more fish for what will eventually In spring, Parrie was hit with be even fewer jobs. What’s worse, something unexpected. Burdened they are more aware of their peer’s Heather Parrie got a semi-colon tattoo with the weight of the expectations social and professional achievements to remind her that it’s OK to pause and relentlessly comparing herself than ever before, thanks to the sometimes but to always keep going. to successful friends, she began to filtered highlight reels of Facebook, crumble. In the grips of self-doubt, Instagram and Snapchat. anxiety and depression, she began There are many reasons college students might sleeping up to 20 hours a day. She canceled plans with experience anxiety and depression. As more students friends, skipped class and preferred to stay wrapped from varied backgrounds, classes and ethnicities in a safe cocoon of blankets in her sorority house. She attend college at higher rates, the challenges they face ended up failing an accounting test and then the class can be new, unexpected and isolating, according to itself, which just made things worse. In April, she was 11.19.15 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM

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outward projection to herself, “as though she could never find validation for her struggle because how could someone so beautiful, so seemingly put together, be unhappy?”

In July, after battling her mental illness for many months, Parrie wrote a blog post. She wrote about her journey with mental illness and described her reasons for getting a tattoo of a semicolon. In literary terms, the punctuation mark is used to take a pause, but another phrase always follows it. For Parrie, this was a symbol for her continued fight against mental illness.

The post went viral and reached an estimated 7 million people and even helped inspire a new trend in tattoos. It was shared or written about on Huffington Post, the International Business Times and Buzzfeed, to name a few. In the post, she delves into the duality of her carefully crafted outward appearance of success versus her inward battle against her perceived failure.

She writes: “I am depression, and I am the perfect picture of a 20-year-old sorority girl at an SEC school.

I am depression and I am oversized fraternity formal T-shirts and Nike shorts that hang off my frail, starved hips that the Greek Town girls envy so much. I am depression.”

Achievement Pressure In a fall 2014 assessment, the American College Health Association found that the top three factors that affecting students’ academic performance at MU were stress, anxiety and sleep difficulties. Photo Illustration by JOHN HAPPEL

diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

Even in her darkest moments when she felt she’d never get out of bed, Parrie managed to conceal her inner battle from most people.

When she later asked friends if they noticed her struggling, they told her, “You always look like you have it together, so we didn’t ask you if you needed help.”

Researchers and mental health professionals explain the gap between college students’ tireless efforts to appear put together and their inward unraveling as the “duck syndrome.” The term was first coined at Stanford University for the common conception that anxiety and failure are seen as unacceptable at the school, and it was closely mirrored by the term “Penn Face” at the University of Pennsylvania, where students have striven to appear happy even when they aren’t.

The idea is this: Picture a duck swimming across a lake or pond. On the surface, the duck seems to be gliding along effortlessly, gracefully. But beneath the surface, the duck’s webbed feet are busy paddling — frantic, fraught, desperate — to keep itself afloat.

Parrie’s battle with this façade has been played out in headlines about college students who took their lives or contemplated doing so. A recent New York Times article chronicled the struggle of Kathryn DeWitt, a student at Penn who attempted to take her life after facing extreme pressures at college. In May, ESPN’s Bleacher Report published a piece about another Penn student, Madison Holleran, a gifted runner who took her life freshman year. According to the article, Madison carefully crafted her social media accounts to show a happy, fulfilled life. But she struggled to connect her

There are certain commonalities in the stories of college students such as Parrie who struggle with depression and anxiety, but one in particular illustrates the intense pressure they feel to achieve, and it often comes from parents.

“My parents expected me to be very successful,” Parrie says. “They weren’t overbearing, but they expected me to be my best.” For Parrie, her best meant working toward a 4.0 high school GPA, being in the top 5 percent of her class, nailing the ACT and filling her résumé with extracurriculars.

That kind of drive doesn’t stop once students get to college. “Students are juggling a lot of roles,” Hutton says. Many students have a hard time balancing their laundry list of responsibilities, including taking 12 to 15 credit hours, working part-time jobs or internships, engaging in clubs and student leadership, maintaining relationships and dealing with family obligations, Hutton adds. It’s overwhelming, and students struggle to keep up.

The College Debate

Demand increases for mental health services at universities Throughout the past several decades, universities have been given more responsibility for their students’ well-being. As parents and media became more concerned with the safety of campuses, the legal and social pressures put on universities have resulted in a more comprehensive view of the responsibilities universities have toward their students.

But with the demand for mental health services increasing, universities began to enter what former president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors Dan Jones calls a perfect storm of setbacks. Universities were seeing their federal or state funding reduced, which meant mental health services weren’t given as

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much money. Because of the recession, many of the private practice services at universities closed down. And on top of that, Jones says, “many centers were dismantled by politicians in the name of reform.”

Despite limited funds, resources and outside support, university mental health centers are seeing more clients than ever. Jones says a campus mental health center can expect to service 10 percent of the student population at least once. In 2007, MU’s enrollment broke a record for the fifth-straight year at 28,070.

In the 2015 school year, MU again welcomed the largest enrollment on campus with 35,050 students. That means, using the conservative 10

percent rule, the counseling services will attempt to service almost 700 more clients this year than in 2007.

Other factors are contributing to counseling centers across the country becoming overwhelmed.

Jones says that more students are seeking help — not only because there are more students, but also because more of them are experiencing problems such as anxiety and depression. There is also less of a stigma for them to seek help. And with the growing panic on campus shootings and the mental illness factor that might play into that, university mental health centers have been expected to set up procedures, education and treatment options for troubled or troubling students.

“I was always taught that if you work hard, you’re going to be OK,” Parrie says. Millennials, though, are finding this isn’t always the case. Many parents and teachers have given their children and students resources, means and motivation to succeed, so they are expected to constantly achieve. Students often build debt, work at unpaid internships and make physical and mental sacrifices to stay competitive, all to enter an ever-growing pool of applicants whom internships and employers sift through. In a 2012 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 44 percent of recent grads aged 22 to 27 with at least a bachelor’s degree were underemployed, which means they were working in jobs that didn’t require a college degree.

A happiness study started in the 1970s by Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me and professor at San Diego State University, found an unusual trend: People aren’t becoming happier as they get older. According to a 2015 Associated Press article about the study, young adults could be suffering from “economic insecurity,” which means they fear they won’t be able to achieve all they expected. “Our generation is the pioneer for not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Parrie says.

Millennials strive to succeed, but they haven’t always been taught to deal with the times when they inevitably fail. As Jones puts it, they haven’t been allowed to struggle before. Because of the way this generation was raised, Jones says, “people don’t get used to the idea that they’re not always number one or not always the best.” This leads to college students feeling self-doubt at substantial levels.

This generation oftentimes deals with “helicopter parents.” These parents choose college classes for their children, call universities to ask about a bad test score and even tag along to job interviews. A more recent term for a similar parenting style is “lawn mower parenting,” in which parents mow down the obstacles in their children’s way. A 2011 study by Terri LeMoyne and Tom Buchanan at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga found that students with helicopter parents are more likely to be medicated for anxiety and/ or depression.

Indiana University psychologist Chris Meno says in an article by the Indiana University News Room that college students are psychologically affected by this style of over-parenting because they have not yet figured out the balance between independent decision making and asking for help.

Twenge headed another study that examined the results of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory — a mental health survey given to college students since 1938 and high school students since 1951. She noticed that many students have shifted focus from intrinsic to extrinsic goals. In other words, students have gradually begun valuing material awards and outside approval over self-improvement or fulfillment. In the 1960s and 1970s, most college freshmen valued “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” over “being well off financially.” Today, that exact opposite is true.

Many college students’ self worth is based on their achievements, whether that fulfills them or not.

Parrie is no different. “I pride myself on being a strong, hardworking, mentally sound person,” she says.

Armstrong shares the same craving for achievements. “My therapist says I have a tendency to want to accomplish really special things all the time.”

Armstrong says when she does something she’s proud

“I was always taught that if you work hard, you’re going to be OK.” —Heather Parrie, MU student

Men are less likely to talk about mental illness they might experience. According to the American Psychological Association, some mental health surveys might be skewed if men aren’t willing to participate. Photo Illustration by JOHN HAPPEL 1 1 . 1 9 . 1 5 | .V O X M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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In a study this year, researchers at MU found that users who experience envy on Facebook can then experience symptoms of depression. Photo Illustration by JOHN HAPPEL

of — like when she published a novel, Night Owls, in May to reflect her mental health struggles or organized fundraising events in Chicago — the warm, bright feeling of accomplishment wears off faster each time and leaves her empty and searching for it again.

Social Media

A riddle: What do you get when you pair a generation of people who were raised to be competitive and success-driven with a seemingly smaller world connected through social media?

The answer: A lot of anxiety and overwhelming feelings of inferiority.

Millennials are the first generation to go through all the trials of reaching adulthood through the everpresent lens of social media. According to a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center, social media usage for people between the ages of 18 and 29 increased 1,000 percent in the past eight years. Up to 98 percent of college students use social media, according to Experian Simmons, a consumer insight service.

Experts and those who work with college students are still questioning if all that screen time has changed the way students interact with people face to face. Craig Rooney, director of behavioral health services at the 12

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MU Student Health Center, says he’s seen more social anxiety in students. “I’ve wondered if social media and phones have contributed to that,” he says.

Armstrong describes the difference between her parents’ college experience and her own. “My mom, for instance, she didn’t know anything else that existed outside of Baker University — even outside of her tennis teammates and her friends in her sorority. And it was the same with my dad.”

Now, she says she is constantly made aware of her peers’ activities through social media. “You’re constantly hearing about what this person did that was really awesome. It always makes me wonder, what am I doing?

What should I be doing? Is it enough?”

Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, told Business Insider that social media often contributes to college students’ stress when it is used to perpetuate harassment or bullying (or, at MU, anonymous Yik Yak threats during the height of a campus protest). But, Sinha says, social media also exaggerates anxiety because students use it to compare themselves with their peers.

An often-sited MU study this year connected heavy Facebook use to feelings of envy, which led to increased symptoms of depression. In a thesis last year by Angie Zuo at University of Michigan, she found that college

students who spend time on Facebook engage more in social comparison with their peers. And the more college students compare themselves, the more they showed signs of low self-esteem and mental health problems. Millennials are spending an average of 3 hours and 12 minutes engaging with social networks every day, according to data curated by The Wall Street Journal in 2013.

Many times, the feelings inspired by seeing a friend’s Facebook or Snapchat create what researchers and marketers call “fear of missing out” or FOMO. To this generation, even a night out can become a bragging point, or another way to prove they are living a seemingly exciting life.

Essena O’Neill, a 19-year-old Instagram star from Australia with half a million followers, quit social media in late October, saying farewell in a teary final YouTube video. She quit because, as she said in an Instagram post: “Social media ... isn’t real. It’s a system based on social approval, likes, validation in views, success in followers.

It’s perfectly orchestrated self-absorbed judgment. I was consumed by it.”

After her announcement, O’Neill went back and recaptioned several of her Instagram photos to describe the behind-the-scenes process. In one photo, she is

lounging on a beach towel doing homework. She wrote: “Stomach sucked in, strategic pose, pushed up boobs. I just want younger girls to know this isn’t candid life, or cool or inspiration. It’s contrived perfection made to get attention.”

Researchers often refer to social media as a person’s “highlight reel,” where people post the shiniest parts of their lives while never addressing the humdrum daily activities or failures.

College students who understand that social media is used as a near-constant high school reunion, among other things, put extreme care in creating a positive online presence. Even now, after Parrie has received treatment and is better able to deal with her mental illness, she says social media makes her more critical of herself. “They’re showing their best life, and you’re seeing the ugliest part of you,” she says.

Awareness and Acceptance

Millennials have grown up under increased attention on mental health disorders: ADD, depression, eating disorders and suicide are some of the most talked about.

They watch it play out — mischaracterized or not — on news reports, in books and TV shows, in their friends and in themselves.

Parrie says watching some of her friends go

than previous generations.

But when it comes to themselves, millennials still carefully craft how others perceive them: Fewer than 50 percent of respondents said they would be able to talk to friends and family about seeking help.

At MU, the local Active Minds chapter, a nonprofit group dedicated to mental health awareness and education, is working to make it easier to get help.

Anthony Orso, vice president of the organization, says the ultimate goal is to reduce the stigma enough to create a “supportive community that encourages people to seek treatment.”

In a big step toward acceptance of mental illnesses on MU’s campus, Active Minds successfully petitioned the administration to put the MU Counseling Center’s number on the back of student ID cards. That’s vital, Orso says, because it shows that mental health is just as important as other forms of personal safety, such as MU Police Department and STRIPES, a student-run safe-ride program.

Many MU administrators are working with students and student groups to increase awareness and education for mental health. Wellness Resource Center director Kim Dude says that during some presentations, students are asked to raise their hands if they have witnessed a friend drink too much. She says pretty much all raise their hand. Almost as many raise their hands when asked if they are concerned about a depressed friend.

“We have a student body who does care,” Dude says. “So it’s about teaching them how to care and teaching them the warning signs.” The bystander intervention training — often associated with a sexual assault intervention program called Green Dot through the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center — is one of the first lines of defense. Dude says they train more than 1,000 people a year for the program.

One of the things they learn to recognize are signs of a person struggling with mental illness and how to help that person or direct them to get help. With signs of suicide ideation, she says, there are specific steps. But in other cases, they’re teaching “just how to be a good human to other humans.”

Millennials might have trouble with resilience, but as Danica Wolf, coordinator of the RSVP Center, says, they’ve made it this far. “Our students, they’re coping in a lot of ways, but they’re coping.”

“Our students, they’re coping in a lot of ways, but they’re coping.”

—Danica Wolf, MU RSVP Center coordinator through depression from an early age is what made her realize she needed help. “It didn’t take me very long to get help in comparison with most people,” she says.

“I think that’s because I’ve had so many friends from high school who dealt with it. I was able to recognize in myself what I’d seen in my friends.”

Millennials as a generation have benefited from the gradual slack for the stigma of mental health. Despite being harder on themselves, millennials were found to be more accepting of others with mental illness than previous generations, according to a survey conducted

by American University this year. Of those surveyed, 85 percent said they would have no problem making friends or working with someone experiencing a mental illness. Millennials are more accepting and supportive of others and more open to those who lead different lifestyles, the study says. They cheer one another on across various platforms, support LGBT rights, believe racial diversity increases the quality of a campus or workplace and have a more diverse group of friends

University Involvement

In a back room of the Wellness Resource Center on the MU campus sits a massage chair that students can rent out for 15 minutes. Dude says 1,200 people used it last year just to sit and have moments to themselves.

Terry Wilson, co-project director of health promotion and wellness at the Student Health Center and coordinator of the Contemplative Practice Center, says student demand led to the growth of several mindfulness-based classes. MU’s Contemplative Practice Center won the Best Practices in College Health award

Multicultural resources

Students who are ethnic minorities often experience several different compounding layers of stress In a 2013 study of minority students at the University of Texas at Austin by The Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, African-American students were more likely to feel stress directly related to discrimination. Asian-American students often reported experiencing “imposter feelings” when people didn’t believe they deserved the success they’ve achieved.

The researchers behind the study believe stereotypes that are often and strongly applied to minorities play out in the students’ perceptions of themselves — and that can include how much success they expect of themselves.

One of the problems of serving minority students, though, is that there is not as much research compared to white students.

Part of the issue is that minority populations, especially black communities, hold a stronger stigma against mental health and seeking treatment, according to a study this year by The Ohio State University.

At MU, staff at the Counseling Center and Behavioral Health Center report that African-American students are seeking help at a slightly higher rate.

Staff has been reaching out to the community with more presentations and outreach about mental health. It has connected with groups such as the Legion of Black Collegians, the Black Culture Center and other minority groups. Often, the students come to the staff and ask for them for assistance with the programming.

The Behavioral Health Center and the Counseling Center have non-white therapists who work with students, including a therapist fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.

In its second year, a People of Color support group through the Counseling Center allows minority students to discuss problems such as encountered racism, micro-aggressions and living on a majority-white campus.

In lieu of recent protests on campus, students are looking to increase this outreach and programming at MU. In a list of demands, Concerned Student 1950 says, “We demand the University of Missouri increases funding and resources for the University of Missouri Counseling Center for the purpose of hiring additional mental health professionals; particularly those of color...”

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As part of students’ primary care, the Student Health Center screens all of its patients for behavioral health issues, including depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Photo Illustration by JOHN HAPPEL

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Millennials still carefully craft how others perceive them: Fewer than 50 percent of respondents said they would be able to talk to friends and family about seeking help. by the American College Health Association in 2015.

The center offers sessions in mindfullness yoga and meditation, stress reduction and biofeedback. Several of the courses can be taken for credit.

Wilson says the Loving-Kindness course in particular has blown her away with the change she sees in students. She says students who had previously been dependent on alcohol or drugs tell her “they decided that’s not what they want to do anymore.” Wilson says students learn “how to work with difficult people in their lives, or really just how to love themselves.”

It’s something Wilson believes is important to this generation of students on campus, especially with the boiling-over tension of recent weeks.

One focus of her classes is to make students feel comfortable with their stress and struggles. “They think they’re flawed and broken,” she says. “We’re all part of the human being club.”

Wolf says she’s seen an increase in the interaction between student groups working together to help one another feel heard and understood. She says faculty and student groups are working to give students the chance to share their stories with one another. “We all crave connection and community,” she says. “There’s so much power in hearing, ‘Me, too.’”

Moving Forward

For students such as Armstrong and Parrie, seeing hope from a place of feeling flawed, doubtful and overwhelmed can seem impossible. But they’re finding ways to create a meaningful life for themselves and helping others do the same.

Campus Resources

Some students find strength in friends or family, some rely on the services offered on campus, and some dig deep to find their passions. Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of the millennial generation is how connected it is, especially to friends. Rooney says friends are often the first resource students turn to for help with worries about mental illness, and many times, those coming to the counseling center are accompanied by a close friend.

Parrie is reconnecting to campus life, to friends and to herself. She’s taking on responsibility and finds out if she was voted student body vice president on Wednesday night. She tries to carve out time each day to take a breath and focus on herself. She’s also learning how not to feel guilty for doing so.

Armstrong knows she’ll always be learning to manage her mental health, but she’s been steady lately.

She’s working on it. A character in Armstrong’s novel, inspired by one of her closest friends, sees it as his mission to ask as many people, “Do you know what I like about you?” His answer is always the same: “Everything.”

Armstrong has the acronym of that question “DYKWILAY” tattooed on her arm as a reminder of what she went through, much like Parrie’s tattoo. They are permanent reminders of defeating doubt.

With help, millennials can be comfortable with imperfection. They can find out that, sometimes, it takes help to learn how to let go of what the world demands and seek happiness instead. Sometimes it’s OK to show weakness.

Sometimes, it takes a pause to move forward.

LGBT

mental health LGBT students are much more likely to experience discrimination.

This community often struggles to find a sense of belonging on a college campus, which can exacerbate or trigger mental health disorders.

At MU, staff at the Behavioral Health Center and the Counseling Center are trained to support these students. Craig Rooney, director of the Behavioral Health Center, is openly gay, which he says can be important for some students to know as they seek help.

The follow data was collected by The Healthy Minds from a 2013 survey of 14,000 college students.

By the numbers:

23.5% thought about committing suicide in the past year

18.4%

have had bad experiences with medication or therapy, compared to 6.7 percent for heterosexuals

11.7%

said the services offered aren’t sensitive to people struggling with sexual identity

;

There are numerous groups on campus dedicated to mental health awareness, education and solidarity Wellness Resource Center: Located in the MU Student Center, the WRC plans student programs and events that deal with wellness in relation to stress, mental health, alcohol abuse and other issues.

882-4634, wellness.missouri.edu

MU Counseling Center: The counseling center helps students with emotional, social and academic concerns through individual and group therapy, couples counseling, crisis intervention and outreach presentations. 882-6601, counseling.missouri.edu

MU Student Health Center: With more than 25 health professionals, the Student Health Center offers resources for stress management, relationship issues, behavioral health and more. The Behavioral Health Center is located here as well.

882-7481, studenthealth.missouri.edu

Online screening: Take a brief mental health exam. screeningmentalhealthscreening.org/mizzou RSVP Center: The RSVP Center provides crisis intervention, advocacy services and holds programs and events to end rape, sexual assault and relationship violence. 882-6638, rsvp.missouri.edu

MU LGBTQ Resource Center: The center offers a safe place for all students and educates people about sexual and gender identities. 884-7750, lgbtq.missouri.edu/about-us/ National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Connect to a trained counselor at a crisis center in the area, 24/7.

If you feel you are in a crisis, whether or not you are thinking about ending your life, the Lifeline is there for support. 1-800-273-TALK

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SCENE

EAT THIS: KIMCHI NACHOS

Seoul Taco spices up the late-night food game

BY DAVID SEAMAN

PHOTO BY ALEX MENZ

The new kimchi dish fits in with the multicultural, street-food vibe of Seoul Taco.

Nachos have always been a fan favorite.

Gooey cheese, crunchy chips — what’s not to love? The spice, the savory meat and the … cabbage? At Seoul Taco, the Kimchi Nachos come with a kick of Asian flavor.

The regular menu at Seoul Taco includes tacos, quesadillas, burritos and gogi bowls with a Korean twist: kimchi and house sauce. Kimchi is a fermented cabbage dish with a variety of seasonings, a vinegar base and a slightly spicy kick.

The Seoul Taco team was excited to add this Mexican-Korean mix to its menu permanently on Oct. 1. “The launch (of the nachos) in St. Louis a couple weeks before worked out the kinks and went really well,” says Jack Fechter, a general manager of the Columbia store. The dish is a nod to Seoul Taco’s food truck roots.

With a dollop of sour cream on the side, the meat of your choice (bulgogi steak, spicy pork, chicken or tofu), onions, sesame seeds and white melting cheese top off the chips. The serving of nachos is a bit smaller than, say, El Rancho’s, but the quality outweighs the quantity. You have

MIDNIGHT MUNCHIES Don’t fret, nocturnal foodies.

Seoul Taco is just one of Columbia’s many late-night eateries. There are plenty of tasty treats to choose from after hours.

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to dig deep to uncover the chips, but the delicious ingredients piled on top are well worth it.

The kimchi sets this dish apart from the ballpark variety with its signature spice. The crunchiness of both the vegetables and chips creates the perfect base for the rich cheese and meat.

Marinating techniques are the key to Seoul Taco’s distinctive taste. The meats are immersed in herbs, spices and vegetables for at least 24 hours before being cooked, and the cheese and chips are handmade. The kimchi is made from scratch with a three- to four-day pickling and fermentation process. “It’s a lot of labor and a lot of love,” Fechter says.

This new, albeit messy, take on SEOUL TACO KIMCHI NACHOS, $8 nachos fits right in with the Columbia 1020 E. Broadway Sun.–Wed., 11 a.m. to late-night food 10 p.m.; Thurs.–Sat., scene. Reward a 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. long day (or long 441-8226 night) with this seoultaco.com savory dish.

IF YOU’RE IN THE MOOD FOR...

RETRO BREAKFAST

FANCY KIDDIE FOOD

SOMETHING SWEET

SPICE AND COMFORT

Try: The Stretch with hash browns, eggs, chili and more

Try: Pizza bagel with handmade tomato sauce and cheeses

Try: Cookies N’ Creme ice cream or icing sandwich

Try: Half-pound boneless chicken tenders with ranch, celery and blue cheese

Broadway Diner

Uprise Bakery

Hot Box Cookies

Wingin Out

BOOKS

Masters of their universes

Stan Lee and Neil Gaiman become the heroes of their own stories

BY TATUM FRIEDRICH It’s easy to flip through the finished work and forget the artist who made it happen. Stan Lee and Neil Gaiman, authors of some of the most popular comics and graphic novels worldwide, are publishing memoirs this month that illustrate the lives beyond the pages of their many stories and how the authors’ work came to be.

Now 92, Lee began his career at Timely Comics, the predecessor to Marvel, in 1939 when he was just 17. At the time, comics were dime-store children’s fare.

MU English professor Andrew Hoberek, who studies graphic novels, says high school and college students took greater interest in the genre in the 1960s after Lee introduced characters who sometimes longed for normal, supervillain-free lives. Creating relatable heroes with problems and family worries was one of the ways Lee changed comics forever.

“It was an introduction of soap opera elements into the superheroes, and as a result, they were a little more adult and started to get a teenaged and college audience involved,” Hoberek says.

The characters Lee made famous, such as Iron Man, Captain America, Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man, fly across the cover of his memoir, a testament to a life of prolific work. At the center is Lee himself with the wide-open arms that shaped an industry. And inside, a “Marvel”-ous story.

MUSIC

Gaiman, 55, arrived on the scene during the 1980’s comic book “British Invasion”, an artistic movement in which British artists joined the American comics industry.

He contributed to titles such as Judge Dredd and Black Orchid before launching his best-selling series, Sandman, in 1989. James Cagle, Rock Bottom Comics co-owner and a Gaiman fan for more than 20 years, praises it as “stunningly literate” and without compare.

“I’ve never seen another writer who approaches stuff the way he does, that writes the way he does,” Cagle says. “It really is something amazing.”

After Sandman, Gaiman focused on novels such as American Gods and Coraline. Whatever the medium, Gaiman’s work is always colored by dark, melancholic worlds that complement his writing.

Gaiman family friend Hayley Campbell produced the book. She showcases hundreds of story notes and sketches that illustrate Gaiman’s curious mindscape.

The curious character writes with an air of mystery and horror but also publishes children’s literature, married a punk rocker and took a position as a professor at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Whether Lee’s brightly colored, hero-filled worlds or the dark mind of Neil Gaiman is more your style, get an inside look into the worlds of a graphic great.

Neil Gaiman Release date: Nov. 24 List price: $19.99

Stan Lee Release date: Nov. 3 List price: $30

SEE THIS: DAVID BROMBERG

A folk legend strives to re-establish himself in the spotlight following two decades of soul searching

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HARPER DESIGN; TOUCHSTONE; DAVID BROMBERG

BY MARLEE ELLISON David Bromberg quit music in the 1980s. It’s not that his career was headed south — he enjoyed widespread popularity and collaborated with musicians such as Bob Dylan, The Eagles and Willie Nelson. Although Bromberg didn’t recognize it at the time, he was facing a case of creative fatigue.

The folk singer halted an illustrious career to make time for some personal growth.

Bromberg was still attracting audiences in the ’80s but something felt off. “I wasn’t doing the things a musician does,” he says. Off tour, the renowned musician wasn’t practicing, holding jam sessions or working in his musical trade. Instead of recognizing this stage of his life as a period of burnout, he simply thought he wasn’t cut out for the job. “I figured I wasn’t a musician, and I had to find another way to live my life,” Bromberg says. He decided to lie low and ease into his next calling.

“I wanted to find something to do with my life that I would enjoy,” he says. So he started repairing violins. His adoration of the classical instrument began in California where he would visit violin shops and absorb information. Fascinated by the craftsmen who could determine make and model with a quick glance, Bromberg moved toward a different musical path. In 2002, Bromberg realized his dreams when he opened David Bromberg

Fine Violins in Wilmington, Delaware. Bromberg began repairing, selling and appraising the delicate instrument, which soon became his main source of income.

His presence helped revive the quaint eastern town’s music scene. Over lunch, the mayor mentioned a residential street that once hosted live jazz. Encouraged by fellow musicians, including bluegrass player Herb Pederson, Bromberg took part in some small jam sessions that ultimately rekindled his creative flame. “It was those sessions that really got me back into playing,” he says.

In 2007, he released his first studio album in nearly 18 years, Try Me One More Time, a project that was nominated for a 2008 Grammy award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Since then, Bromberg produced two more albums: Use Me and Only Slightly Mad in 2011 and 2013, respectively. His new projects and performances don’t stray far from his original style. Bromberg is known for lighthearted lyrics and instrumental expertise. His performances are unorthodox, rootsy and open to musical experimentation.

Although Bromberg’s musical catalog is enormous, he never uses a set list and feels his way through each individual performance. While the band is waiting in the wings of the stage preparing

Bromberg’s adaptable guitar playing helped him establish renown as a backup musician early in his career. With this fame, he now tours nationally.

to go on, he will rattle off a few songs he wants to play that night. “You really have to be quick on your feet,” says bandmate Mark Cosgrove, who was faced with a steep learning curve when he joined the band four years ago.

Bromberg has been known to abruptly change the songs based on how the audience is responding. Today’s audiences react the same way as those 30 years ago by filling concert halls and feeding off of his inventive attitude. Cosgrove says the dedication of fans is amazing considering Bromberg’s extended break.

THE BLUE NOTE Saturday, doors, 7 p.m.; show, 8 p.m.; $30, 874-1944, thebluenote.com

11.19.15 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM

17

THIS WEEK IN COLUMBIA

The to-do list The holiday season is coming, and now is the time to start shopping for everyone on your list. This market has home-based business vendors and a variety of arts and crafts for purchase. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Hillcrest Community Center and Moss Building, Free, 874-7460

Thanksgiving Farmers Market

Get ready for Thanksgiving with local produce and other food items. The event will support sustainable agriculture and local vendors. Tuesday, 3–7 p.m., Parkade Center, Free, 823-6889

Partnership Against Hunger Food Drive

Start off the giving season by supporting the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. Nonperishable food items and monetary donations will be accepted.

Participating locations include Wal-Mart and Schnucks stores in Columbia and surrounding areas. Tuesday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., various locations, Free, 474-1020

Film Series: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Join the Museum of Art and Archaeology for a free screening of this classic film.

Travel back in time to the Middle Ages and follow the story as the King of the Britons

MUSIC GOSH!

This band brings easygoing, psychedelic vibes from Rock Island, Illinois. The group is going strong after releasing a self-titled album in June. Friday, 8 p.m., Café Berlin, $5, 441-0400

SPORTS MU Tigers Football vs.

Tennessee Volunteers

Don’t miss the last time Gary Pinkel’s visor graces Faurot field. Cheer on the Tigers as they take on the Vols at the last home football game of the season.

Support graduating players during senior night and dress for this blackout themed game. Saturday, 6:15 p.m., Faurot Field, prices vary, 884-7297

SCREEN The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 (PG-13) Katniss must bring together an army against President Snow, and put it all on the line in the process. Watch the thrilling conclusion to the fourth and final film of the series. F, R RUNTIME = 2:28

KOPN 89.5fm...Where Else?

Monday thru Friday National Programming Line-up...

Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman 8-9am and Noon-1pm

The Diane Rehm Show 9-11am

Fresh Air with Terry Gross 11am-Noon

Room (R)

A 5-year-old boy Jack and his mom have been locked in a windowless room for his entire life. As his curiosity grows, they make a daring escape and face the reality of the outside world. RT RUNTIME = 1:58

Secret in their Eyes (PG-13)

A team of investigators is pushed to the limit after finding out one of their co-workers daughter’s was brutally murdered. Starring Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Chitwetel Ejiofor. R RUNTIME = 1:51

Spotlight (R)

The true story behind how The Boston Globe exposed the Catholic Church for its child molestation scandal and resulting coverup. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams. RT RUNTIME = 2:08

Theaters F = Forum R = Regal

Written by David Webber RT = Ragtag = available in 3D

A modern romantic comedy about a marriage and a dog.

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VOXMAGAZINE.COM | 11.19.15

Directed by Nora Dietzel & Caryl Bryan

For more information and tickets go to:

everyeventgives.com/organizer/nora-dietzel

A I V L SY

By A.R. Gurney NOVEMBER: 5-8 $ Adults 12 Students $10 Seniors $10

1800 Nelwood Drive Columbia, MO www.cectheatre.org

On your radio dial at 89.5 fm or live streaming at kopn.org

A Night at the Shelter

Three friends set out on a hilarious journey to find the holy grail of Christmas parties­, The Nutcracker Ball. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie. F, R RUNTIME = 1:17

1st Bapti st Ch 1112 Eas urch | Fellowship t Broadw ay - Colu Hall mbia

Holiday Bazaar

The Night Before (R)

Nove mb 19 & er 20 7-9pm

leads his knights on a hilarious quest to find the Holy Grail. Thursday, 7 p.m., MU North Hall, Free, 882-3591

CIVIC

This season brought to you by:

|

12-15

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19-22

|

2015

“Dramatic literature is stuffed with memorable love scenes, but none is as immediately delicious and dizzy as the one that begins the redeeming affair in A.R. Gurney’s new comedy, SYLVIA…” —NY Times.

Q&A A CONVERSATION WITH CAROLYN AMPARAN Environmental activist teaches the community how to live with the future in mind

BY NICOLA DALL’ASEN PHOTO BY KATIE HOGSETT

Carolyn Amparan saw the famous PSA from the Keep America Beautiful campaign as an elementary school student in 1971. It opened her eyes to the importance of nature. The commercial showed a Native American man paddling a canoe past massive industrial structures through a river littered with trash. He lands beside a busy interstate, and a man in a passing car tosses a bag of garbage at his feet. When he looks at the camera, a single tear rolls down his cheek.

Amparan realized pollution could ruin the state and national parks she visited in the summer with her family. She didn’t become an activist until adulthood, but she always made conscious environmental choices and encouraged her friends to do the same.

In 1987, Amparan got involved with the Sierra Club, the largest grassroots environmental organization in the nation, when she moved from Houston to St. Louis. The club has a long history of preserving the environment. In 2012, Amparan retired from her position at IBM and moved to Columbia where she joined the club’s Osage Group as a volunteer. She became group chair in January.

“She is one of the few persons I know who regularly practices what she preaches about the environment,” says Tom Lata, vice chair of the Osage Group. “Frankly, none of us on the local Sierra Club board can keep up with everything she does.”

Since Amparan joined, the group passed energyefficient building codes and made the first and only attempt in Missouri to ban plastic bags. She is currently teaching a free, open-to-all-ages class about climate change on MU’s campus and is writing a blog that provides advice on how to slow climate change.

Amparan took a break from her busy schedule to share her thoughts on the importance of being green.

Tell us what’s different about the activism scene in Columbia.

There are a lot of different groups in Columbia interested in different aspects of environmental protection, and people are really open to working together. You have a real spirit of community, not just within our organization but across organizations.

Even though the plastic bag ordinance didn’t end up passing, we got a lot of support from the community and good support from the media in town, so I find that all very rewarding and different.

What is something most people would not expect about you?

Probably that I’m an introvert. Even though I get up and make speeches, I’m an introvert.

How do you spend your free time?

Sometimes I take time off to go for a hike. I love that Columbia has so many hiking and biking trails, so you don’t have to go far to take a beautiful walk.

There’s no activism involved; I just enjoy it myself.

Since I retired from working at IBM, I’ve become a little bit more of a homemaker. My husband and I are trying to do something to reduce our carbon footprint, like eating locally and eating less processed food, which means somebody has to cook. So I’ve been working on my cooking skills.

Why do you like being an environmental activist?

I really enjoy the people I work with. They’re all such good, open people. They don’t have hidden agendas.

They’re very up-front with what they’re trying

to accomplish. And the other thing is you get to combine your work with doing outdoor things, like hiking or camping or canoeing.

What little things can people do to protect the environment?

There are all kinds of little decisions you make. Even though I live in the suburbs here in Columbia, I dry my clothes on the line in the summertime. One of the things we most need people to do right now is communicate to the state and federal officials that they really care what’s happening with climate change, and they want the government to take action to help fight it.

What’s next on the Osage Group’s agenda?

One of our key partners in doing a lot of climate actions in town is the Peaceworks of mid-Missouri.

They have activities planned that we’ll probably be participating in. On Nov. 30, I know they’re planning an awareness demonstration because that’s when the big summit in Paris kicks off.

Why do you think combatting climate change is important?

Once climate change is upon us, more dramatically than it is now, so many other important issues are going to fall by the wayside. Climate change is our biggest security threat. This isn’t the world I want to leave for future generations. I am a spiritual person, so I believe we have a responsibility to protect the Earth from a spiritual perspective. A part of this also feels like a personal calling, like I’m supposed to try and get people to open their eyes.

11.19.15 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM

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